Pizza Bob
Member
At some point late last year or earlier this year I seem to have crossed the line from being a buyer/shooter of revolvers to being a collector.
I don't think it has anything to do with quantity. In my case I came to the realization that I was buying guns for which I really had no intended purpose and that I had no intention of shooting - I just bought them because I liked them. No particular theme, although I do like out of the ordinary, uncommon revolvers.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy shooting revolvers, in fact I participate in local IDPA, USPSA and ICORE matches and use revolvers for all.
Recently I went on a bit of a tangent and bought some Heritage Series revolvers - yes, I know that doesn't qualify under this sub-forum, but I'm getting to it. I ended up buying three of the HS guns and it wasn't until I was in the midst of buying the last one that I realized that I had, unintentionally, put together the perfect cross section of these guns. I had one of each of the three finishes in which most of these were available (nickel, blue and case hardened) and had three iconic revolver calibers (.38 Special, .44 Special and .45 Colt). But that left me with no rimfire representative.
I know that there is a HS Model 17, and I may have actually gotten around to adding one of those, however, fate intervened. There is a small, local auction house near where I live. They have gun auctions about two or three times a year, dependent on how long it takes for them to accumulate enough arms to make it worthwhile. Last week I got a notice, that there was going to be one this past Saturday. Along with that they sent a list of what was going to be auctioned. There were only two Smiths that I had any interest in and one of those, a Model 28-2, I had recently acquired a better example of than what was being offered - but I figured maybe I could "steal" it. The other (finally) brings me to the point of this lengthy post. It was a K-22 - post war, pre-model number - which puts me in the correct sub-forum.
For some reason I don't covet the rimfires like I do the center fire guns, but looking at this one I was excited. Really nice shape, serial number that dates it to 1950 and the kicker was it came with its gold box.
Problem was that I had already registered for a USPSA match for the day of the auction. So I submitted an absentee bid on the two guns - low-balled the Model 28-2 and put a pretty conservative bid (some would say I low-balled that one too) on the K-22.
Came home from the match to find a phone message waiting for me. Did not get the 28-2 but was successful in acquiring the K-22.
This being NJ - a one-gun-a-month state - I won't be able to bring the K-22 home until the first week of September (yeah, there are a couple ahead of it), but the anticipation just makes it all the sweeter.
Thanks for putting up with such a long post.
Adios,
Pizza Bob<---first post in this section of the forum
I don't think it has anything to do with quantity. In my case I came to the realization that I was buying guns for which I really had no intended purpose and that I had no intention of shooting - I just bought them because I liked them. No particular theme, although I do like out of the ordinary, uncommon revolvers.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy shooting revolvers, in fact I participate in local IDPA, USPSA and ICORE matches and use revolvers for all.
Recently I went on a bit of a tangent and bought some Heritage Series revolvers - yes, I know that doesn't qualify under this sub-forum, but I'm getting to it. I ended up buying three of the HS guns and it wasn't until I was in the midst of buying the last one that I realized that I had, unintentionally, put together the perfect cross section of these guns. I had one of each of the three finishes in which most of these were available (nickel, blue and case hardened) and had three iconic revolver calibers (.38 Special, .44 Special and .45 Colt). But that left me with no rimfire representative.
I know that there is a HS Model 17, and I may have actually gotten around to adding one of those, however, fate intervened. There is a small, local auction house near where I live. They have gun auctions about two or three times a year, dependent on how long it takes for them to accumulate enough arms to make it worthwhile. Last week I got a notice, that there was going to be one this past Saturday. Along with that they sent a list of what was going to be auctioned. There were only two Smiths that I had any interest in and one of those, a Model 28-2, I had recently acquired a better example of than what was being offered - but I figured maybe I could "steal" it. The other (finally) brings me to the point of this lengthy post. It was a K-22 - post war, pre-model number - which puts me in the correct sub-forum.
For some reason I don't covet the rimfires like I do the center fire guns, but looking at this one I was excited. Really nice shape, serial number that dates it to 1950 and the kicker was it came with its gold box.
Problem was that I had already registered for a USPSA match for the day of the auction. So I submitted an absentee bid on the two guns - low-balled the Model 28-2 and put a pretty conservative bid (some would say I low-balled that one too) on the K-22.
Came home from the match to find a phone message waiting for me. Did not get the 28-2 but was successful in acquiring the K-22.
This being NJ - a one-gun-a-month state - I won't be able to bring the K-22 home until the first week of September (yeah, there are a couple ahead of it), but the anticipation just makes it all the sweeter.
Thanks for putting up with such a long post.
Adios,
Pizza Bob<---first post in this section of the forum
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